Knockin' On Heaven's Door
by LoveIsAllYouNeed96
Summary: Sam and Dean think their latest case is going to be nothing more than a salt n' burn, but when does anything go right when you're a Winchester. When the brothers encounter a vengeful spirit, Dean is injured, and Sam is left to pick up the pieces.
1. Chapter 1

The Impala sped down the highway. Dean was driving, as usual, while Sam was riding shotgun with his laptop on his lap.

"So what are we dealing with?" Asked Dean, turning to face his brother for a few seconds before looking back at the road ahead.

"Well the statements the police have taken have all been pretty conclusive. They all share the same detail." He answered.

"And what's that?"

"They all say they witnessed the ghost of Kate Bender."

"Who?" Dean furrowed an eyebrow.

"Kate Bender, she was one of The Bloody Benders. They were a family of serial killers who owned an inn Labette County, Kansas from 1871 to 1873. John Bender Sr, his wife, and their two kids, John Jr and Kate. Everyone they killed had stayed at the inn they ran. Apparently, the guests were given a seat of honor at the table which was positioned over a trap door that led into the cellar. John or his son would hide behind the curtain while the daughter would distract the guest. John would then strike the guest on the right side of the skull with a hammer. Either John's wife or Kate would then slit the victim's to ensure their death. Dropping the body through the trap door, once in the cellar, the body would be stripped and later buried somewhere on the property. According to this, the orchard was where most of the bodies were uncovered. More than a dozen bullet holes were also found in the roof of the building and in the sides of the room where it was speculated that some of the victims had attempted to fight back after being hit with the hammer. The Benders stacked up a body count of 11 known victims, before they were arrested."

"Charming." Dean smirked. "Our life is weird man."

"Tell me about it." Sam closed his laptop before looking out of the window at the town.

* * *

_~Labette County, Kansas~_

After taking out a can of gas, a container of salt, two shovels and two guns, Dean handed a gun and a shovel to Sam before closing the trunk of the Impala.

Walking into the graveyard, Sam searched around before coming across a name that he recognised.

'Mrs Sarah Eliza Davis'

"Dean."

Dean walked over and furrowed an eyebrow. "I thought you said her name with Kate Bender."

"According to the records, John Bender Sr was apparently captured but bled to death, John Jr. died of apoplexy, and in 1889, Mrs. Bender and Kate were arrested under the names of Mrs Almira Monroe and Mrs Sarah Eliza Davis. They were later released before being re-arrested for their connection to the Bender murders. Then the records stop, nothing else was ever recorded."

Dean just looked at his brother. "It's sad that you've memorised all that..." He paused. "Geek."

"Whatever." Sam scoffed.

"And also worrying." Dean grinned, purposely trying to be annoying.

Simply ignoring him, Sam looked at the small, shabby stone with her name hastily carved into it. "Do you think it's her?"

Dean shrugged. "It's worth a shot." Stabbing the shovel in the ground, Dean began to dig up the hard soil.

Sam did the same.

* * *

After the brothers had reached the bones buried deep beneath the soil, Dean began to douse the remains with gas while Sam coated them with the salt from the container. Once suitably covered, Dean flicked his lighter sparking a flame. Dropping it into the grave, the remains began to burn in the orange flames. Noticing someone standing watching them in the corner of his eye, he turned to see a girl with long blonde hair dressed in a white cotton dress that was heavily torn. Her skin was covered in small cuts whilst there was a trail of blood trickling down her forehead. Dean's eyes widened. "Sam!" He shouted. Reacting instantly, Dean cocked the gun before firing a salt round at the girl causing her to fritz away.

"There must be something still around that belonged to her." Sam stated.

Before either of the Winchester brothers could react, the girl appeared in front of Sam. In one swift movement, she grabbed him round the throat before throwing him across the graveyard causing him to strike his head on one of the large, grey, marble gravestones stuck out of the ground, knocking him unconscious.

"Sammy!" Dean began to run to his brother, but his path was blocked by the girl, and she was now holding a knife. "Ever heard of a hairbrush?" As she came closer, Dean scowled. "Or mouthwash?" Going to fire another round, Dean attempted to reload the gun, but the mechanism jammed. Desperately trying to fix it, Dean began to back away from the girl, before eventually resorting to hopeless tactics.

As she approached, Dean swung the gun in an attempt to ward her away, but it was hopeless. "Ahh crap!" He cursed before the girl shoved her hand in his direction and he felt a metallic sting in his stomach. Gasping, Dean looked down to see the knife that the girl had been in possession of pertruding from his abdomen.

"Hey!" Shouted Sam. He was stood next to the girl's grave with a huge gash running along his forehead which was bleeding out heavily. Holding a locket in his hand, Sam released his grip on the chain allowing it to fall into the fire that was still roaring from when he and Dean had attempted to salt n' burn the bones minutes earlier.

As the locket melted away, the girl screamed out piercingly before disappearing.

Sam's eyes were wide in fear. "Dean..." He said in a sorrowful tone. Making his way across the graveyard, his pace went from a walk to a near sprint. Reaching his big brother, Sam dropped to his knees beside him and took Dean in his arms. He looked down at the wound. "Oh God!" He panicked, before gently removing the knife from his brother's stomach.

"Sammy..." Dean spoke, weakly. "Where did you get the locket from?" He asked.

"When the spirit threw me across the graveyard, I noticed this lying by the gravestone of an unmarked grave. On the inside it had a strand of hair, so I presumed it was her mother's grave and therefore her hair." Sam explained.

"Presumed?" Dean exclaimed.

"I was right." Sam smirked. "Come on, we've gotta' get you to a hospital." Wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulder, he supported Dean's weight and helped him to his feet.

Dean moaned in pain before he was finally able to speak. "No hospitals."

"Dean, you've lost a lot of blood, you need to get checked out." Sam stated.

"No hospitals, Sammy." Dean made himself clear.

* * *

Returning to the motel room, Sam helped Dean over to his bed before ransacking the green duffle bag in search of anything he could use for first aid. Eventually coming across a roll of bandage, some dental floss and a needle, Sam walked back over to Dean and sat down on the bed next to him. "Sorry, this is gonna' sting like a bitch, but we don't have any pain medication and you're refusing to go to the hospital."

"Just get it over with." Dean stated.

* * *

It took Sam a few minutes to stitch up the wound in Dean's stomach as best as he could. Although it wasn't neat, at least he wasn't bleeding to death. When Sam looked back at his brother, he was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Get some sleep, Dean." He stated softly with a smile.

"Thanks, Sammy..." Dean replied as he drifted off to sleep.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

Sam was awoken from his sleep by the sound of moaning. Flickering his eyes open, he immediately noticed Dean shaking on his bed. Peeling back the covers, he walked over to his brother's bed and sat down on the edge.

"Dean..." He shook his shoulder lightly.

As Dean's eyes cracked open, they showed the pain he must have been enduring. As well as that, his forehead was caked in sweat.

"Dean, you need to go to a hospital." He stated in a panicked tone.

Dean weakly shook his head, before slowly sitting up and putting on a brave face to reassure his baby brother. He hated seeing him worried like this, especially over him.

"No hospitals, S'mmy."

"Dean, please...You need to be checked out. I only sewed up that wound with some dental floss, it's not gonna' stop you from internally bleeding to death."

Dean went to reply with a snarky remark, when a wave of pain hit him. "Ahh!" I cried, hugging an arm around his stomach.

"Dean!" Climbing on the bed, Sam wrapped his arm around Dean's back to support him.

Dean began to cough viciously before he went limp in Sam's arms.

Gasping, Sam looked down at his brother with a panicked expression. "Dean?" Noticing that his chest wasn't rising and falling, Sam pressed two fingers against Dean's neck to check his pulse.

Nothing.

"Dean!" Sam shook his brother. "Dean!" He shouted. "Please wake up..." Tears began to cascade down his cheeks. "Please..." He begged in a broken tone, with his arms tightly wrapped around Dean in a desperate embrace. "Dean..." His voice cracked as he buried his head against his brother's shoulder and sobbed.

Sam heard the door swing open behind him but didn't turn to look. He didn't care if it was a supernatural being here to kill him or a hunter with the same mission for that matter. In this moment, he only cared about Dean.

"Sam?" Came a voice. "Sam!" He found himself being pried away from his brother.

Attempting to fight off whoever was trying to separate him from Dean, Sam landed a punch across the figure's face before he was knocked backwards against the wooden floor of the motel room.

"No! Dean!" He screamed.

"Sam!" Shouted the voice again, before Sheriff Mills looked down at him offering out a hand to help him to his feet. "You need to calm down, we're here to help."

Sitting up, Sam looked over to see Bobby sat next to Dean on the bed. His vision was blurry from being caught off-guard and the amount of tears that had fallen in the past few minutes. "Is he breathing?" Sam asked in a still panicked tone.

"Yeah, but it's weak."

Sighing, Sheriff Mills couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards Sam. The Winchester brothers, although they had their flaws, they always looked out for each other, and as they knew only too well, that was also a weakness. Looking into the eyes of the youngest brother, she saw nothing but fear, pain and the realisation that he might lose his big brother once again.

"What happened?" Asked Bobby.

"We were just working a case." Sam asked in a weak tone. "We thought it was just another salt and burn, but their was a locket with a strand of the girl's hair in it that we didn't know about. She threw me against a gravestone...then she stabbed Dean. I couldn't burn it in time." He looked down. "Dean refused to go to the hospital, so I tried to stitch it up, but he just got worse, and then he stopped breathing and I couldn't get him to wake up." Sam explained.

"We need to get him to a hospital." Sheriff Mills stated.

Bobby nodded.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

Sat in the back of the Impala, Sam arms were cradling his brother as Dean's head rested in his lap as he lay across the leather seats. Sam's eyes were red from crying as he prayed for his brother to hold on just a bit longer until they reached the hospital and he could be treated properly. He knew it was a bad idea not to go earlier, nothing could was ever going to come from stitching up a wound that bad with nothing more than a needle and some dental floss. Sam just wished he'd ignored Dean's demands and dragged his ass into the Impala earlier. Hearing a soft groan, Sam's eyes widened as he looked down at his brother.

"Dean?" He spoke in a soft but weak tone.

As his eyes flickered open, Dean's dewy green eyes immediately fixed on Sam's. "S'mmy?" His voice was hoarse.

"Oh thank god..." Sam sighed, releasing a deep breath that he didn't even know he was holding. Tightening his grip on his brother, he smiled down at him. "You scared me back there."

"Sorry..." Dean apologised before noticing how red Sam's eyes were. He immediately felt guilty for how much pain he had put his little brother through.

Sam shook his head. "It's okay man, you can make up for it by staying awake. We can't have you dosing off again, I don't think my heart could take going through all that again."

"What are you ninety?" Dean smirked.

A smile lit up Sam's face too. Even when gravely injured, Dean had a snarky remark for everything.

* * *

Upon reaching the hospital, the doctors were waiting. Carefully loaded Dean out of the Impala and onto a gurney. They then wheeled him off through a pair of white double doors into the Emergency department. Sam, Bobby and Sheriff Mills were told to stay put in the family waiting room until the doctor came to see them with news.

And that was half an hour ago.

By this time, Sam was pacing the room nervously, petrified of the news the doctor could bring. Although Dean had regained consciousness on the ride to the hospital, Sam knew that he wasn't fully out of the woods.

"Sam, pacing the room ain't gonna' make the doctor come any faster, it's only gonna' carve tracks into the floor." Bobby stated.

Sheriff Mills hit him on the arm. "Give the kid a break ya' grumbly old man." She smirked.

"Sorry." Sam still apologised before taking a seat once again on one of the blue plastic chairs.

"He'll be fine, Sam. Dean's a fighter, he won't be sent under by no knife." Bobby stated in an attempt to reassure Sam.

Sam nodded.

The door opened and in walked a doctor dressed in a white lab coat.

"The family of Dean Nugent?" He asked.

They nodded.

"Dean has been very lucky overall, when the knife was stabbed into his stomach, it missed all the major organs meaning that there were no complications in that area. We believe that the cause of Dean loosing consciousness earlier and his breathing slowing down was due to the wound becoming infected. We have treated the infection and Dean is responding well." The doctor explained.

"Thanks Doc." Smiled Bobby.

"Can I see him?" Asked Sam.

The doctor nodded. "Right this way."

* * *

Entering the room, Dean was sat, propped up against a stack of white mismatched pillows. Upon noticing Sam, he smiled.

"Hi, Sammy."

"Dude, I swear to god, if you ever do that to me again, I'll kick your ass." Sam smirked, glad to see his big brother back to his cocky self.

"I hate it here..." Moaned Dean.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Thr nurses aren't hot man, and most of them are guys! I mean come on, would it kill them to hire a young sexy blonde?" He stated.

"Dean, your confusing reality with porn again." Sam laughed.

**FIN**


End file.
